Replies

I've seen dusty houses, messy houses, and smelly houses. I've seen houses so clean you could perform a surgical procedure in them. I've seen houses where termites have destroyed the underlying woodwork. Since I grew up in a neighborhood where the houses are typically over 100 years old, I've seen houses that have lead pipes, lead paint, and multiple WORKING fireplaces in which literally thousands of fires have burned. I've seen houses that use wood stoves for heat. I've seen them with COAL stoves, too.

But

I have never seen a house such as you describe.

Honestly...SIX COATS of paint/primer? What the hell happened in that house? The Amityville Horror?

Nope, typical house I rehab is right around 100 years old, some are only 50, oldest so far was about 130.

I have been in houses where the dog crap was literally 3 feet tall piles. I have been in houses where literally NOTHING and I do mean NOTHING had been done to the house in over 50 years. I have been in homes where they had to be smoking easily 5-7 packs a day in them for years... where the walls are literally a tan/beige and honestly if you didn't know better would think that's the color they were painted, until you pull down a picture and find nice antique white square behind them. I have watched walls suck up coat after coat of primer and paint with little effect and I am not talking cheap no name paint either, I'm talking the ultra hide brand names.

Believe me, before I started fixing up houses I didn't know houses like this existed, let alone were occupied. I am telling you a not uncommon smokers house in this area, in my experience, you are looking at MIMIMAL of 5 coats to get the walls where you can no longer make out where the pictures used to be... 2 primer + 3 paint. In some of the worst I have done, its well above that.

This is a market where people will literally live their entire lives in a house... just talked to soemone the other day, their aunt had lived in the house since she was 14 years old, she just died in her 80s.. her parents bought the house, and when they passed she just kept living there.... and that is NOT an uncommon story here. Where the national average home turnover may be something like 2.8 years... here in this town the average is way way higher.

Finding homes with the same owner for 20-30-40 and 50 years is not unheard of.

My mother bougth her home it was in that condition, old woman living there smoker, took 5 coats to get walls a clean white... my brother bought his house, again 5 coats to get the homes white, and neither of these were incredibly old homes, they were both build in the 50s time frame. And neither of them were ones I'd classify as "bad" in my experience.

My experience is if you get a serious smokers house, expect 4-5 coats to get it blended clean... if its really bad, even more. NEVER have I been able to walk into a smokers home and slap 1-2 coats and get a clean wall, ever.